


A Track Side Story

by girlsaremyfave



Category: Orange is the New Black, Vauseman - Fandom
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2020-07-28 01:13:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20055619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/girlsaremyfave/pseuds/girlsaremyfave





	1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: The Thrill**

The wind blows through the corners of her helmet, mud hitting her goggles, but most of all the smell of racing fuel hit her nose. She lives for this feeling. The feeling of air under her bike as she takes the hills, the vibration of the bike as she takes off, everything about racing makes her feel free and calculated at the same time. 

Sticking her leg out for a turn, she feels the rider behind her coming up to the inside of the curve beside her. Taking the advantage of the inside pass, she takes the lead in from of her once again. Faintly, she can hear Nicky yelling at her from the side letting her know she is sitting in fourth place. 

Focusing back down on the track again, she starts her fifth and final lap of the track. She feels her heart race faster as she feels the need of wining hit her and the breeze intensifies as she cranks the throttle farther down. She needed to place second or higher to get into the next heat of races, but that would take skill she had to dig down deep for. 

Nicky was on the side of the track trying to keep an eye on her rider, rushing along the other side of the track where the second hill of the course is. She sits with her sign showing the number ‘3’ letting Alex know that she was so close to making the next heat, she just had to push. Nicky sees an orange bike with black detailing come around the corner with her rider attached to it. Alex is trailing the rider in front of her as they accelerate over the hill, passing her in the air and landing ahead of her. 

Alex feels her pulse calm as she feels the air of the other rider pass as she takes the lead in front of them. The only thing that she had left of the course was the sand whoops. As she enters the first one she feels her tire hit a rut in the side of the whoop, losing her balance and sending her bike sideways. She stays holding onto her bike and stands it back up quickly knowing she needs to take second. 

She takes off once again in the sand whoops, passing the finish line where she can finally breath. But when she stopped her bike on the other side of the checkout gate, unbelievable pain hit her. 

Shooting pain shot through her thigh and her left rib cage, not letting her really catch her breath the way she needed to. Nicky ran over to where she was sitting on her bike, helmet still on and everything. “Nick, I hurt something.” Alex groans out between her clenched teeth. 

Nicky grabs her forearm and helps support her off the bike as she yells for a medic to come. Another rider grabs Alex’s bike and leans it against the fence surrounding the course. “Where does it hurt?” Nicky can feel herself holding back her worry as she tries to assess Alex herself. 

“Coming through!” A voice behind Nicky yells. A blonde slender woman rides up on a medic cart and jumps off quickly when they reach where Alex is. The medic grabs Alex by the hips as Nicky keeps the hold on her arm to help her sit down on the back of the medic cart.

The blonde medic looks over to Nicky and sees the ‘TEAM VAUSE’ hoodie she is wearing. “Vause is it?” The medic asks Alex as she helps get her helmet off. “We need to get some of this protective gear off to assess you” 

As the medic reaches to help, Alex pushes her away and finally gets the helmet off of her head along with the goggles. “Where does it hurt?” At the question Alex motions to her leg and side. “Let’s get her to the tent for privacy. We need to look at her chest and ribs for injury.” After saying this, the blonde medic sits next to Alex on the back of the cart and holds a board to her back, helping to stabilize her for the short trip to the tent. 

Pulling into the blue medic tent, the blonde hops off the back of the cart and helps position Alex to where she can help her get on a better examining table. “We have a rider with chest and leg pain, no sign of head trauma.” The medic says as she helps set Alex on the table. 

“Vause, we need to get this gear off so we can take a look at what we’re dealing with.” The blonde woman looks into Alex’s green eyes, trying to sympathize with her and the pain she may feel. Alex nods her head in agreement as the medic tries to help her take the jersey off but is stopped short when Alex cries out in pain. “Miss, we are gonna have to get this off.”

“Then fucking cut it off!” Alex snarls as she is still clenching her teeth from the pain she felt in her ribs. 

The medic reached over to her bag, grabbing scissors to cut the jersey with starting from Alex’s neck and cutting down. After the first few cuts she is able to rip it the rest of the way, tossing it aside to continue helping the brunette. 

The blonde medic then reached to Alex’s side, unhooking her roost protector and pulling her neck brace off along with it. Alex was left with nothing but her elbow pads and sports bra sitting on the table in front of four different medics. 

“We have minor abrasions on the left rib cage side, possible future bruising, but should not be fractured” The blonde medic says to Alex as if she could understand what she was saying. “Lets look at that leg now, okay?” 

The medic helps Alex out of her pants with loud groans of pain coming from the brunette and was able to see swelling immediately. “Looks like we have a femur fracture, possible clean break but we aren’t sure until we get you to the hospital for x-rays.” 

This news hit Alex like a wall of bricks, she couldn’t have broken anything because she didn’t even land that hard. Then the real news hit her. She couldn’t ride. Alex had pushed so hard to get second place in this race so she could move on. 

“Can’t you just splint me for the next race?” Alex begs the medic as she cleans the cuts along her ribs. 

“I’m sorry but I can’t let you do that.” The blonde woman looks up into pleading green eyes and smiles shyly up at Alex. “Listen, if its fractured it could get worse and hit a major blood artery in your leg, you'd be dead in minutes.” 

The blonde saw Alex’s face drop at this news and for some reason felt sad for her, more than she did for the other riders. 

Within minutes an ambulance pulled into the rear side of the medic tent to pick Alex up to get her to a hospital. The medic that had helped her had been pulled away to another accident on the track before Alex could say anything else to her. 

“Hey, who was the medic that helped me?” she asks a brown haired medic that had helped lift her into the back of the ambulance. 

“The blonde one that looks like she couldn’t hurt a fly?” Alex nodded her head at the woman who had the name ‘Morello’ stitched into her uniform. “That’s Chapman. She’s new to being an emergency medic on the track.” 

***

After getting to the hospital, Alex was rushed in for x-rays and painkillers and everything in between those two. She was used to this. Being a motocross rider brought many trips to the hospital and doctors, but she felt weird this time around. 

Nicky had been by her side since they brought her in, even when she needed to pee Nicky was there. “Nick, seriously let a nurse help me go.”

“No, I can help you go pee just fine.” And this was said before an awkward stumble to the bathroom and almost dropping Alex in the toilet more than once. 

It was finally time for Alex to be discharged, cast and all, when she heard a familiar voice outside in the hallway. 

“Last name Vause. She’s about this tall, came in an ambulance.” 

“Ma’am I can’t give out that kind of information.” the nurse behind the emergency entrance counter said. 

“Look, I’m her mom and I just need to see her.” The voice then starts calling out for Alex until Alex called back and her mom burst into her room. 

“Alex Vause, what have you done?” Her mom sounded really angry but the fear beat out the anger in her voice. 

“Mom, I am going to be fine.”

“Yeah from these injuries maybe, but not once I get ahold of you.” Her mom started to play with Alex’s hair as if to help her feel better. 

Alex was discharged shortly after the commotion her mom caused, but instead of going home with Nicky where she wanted to go, she was forced to go to her mom’s house. 

“I will be taking care of you, not some enabler.” 

“Mom, I am the one who wants to race. Nicky is just a friend who wants to be there to support me.” Her voice not being able to hide the annoyance anymore after the long day. 

“I don’t care, this is bad for you.” Her mom left the living room at the second as if to make her point. 

Alex sat on the couch all night watching old reruns of tv shows she has already seen a million times, but couldn’t fall asleep. In the wee hours of the morning she found herself thinking back to what happened at the track that day. Mainly of the woman who helped her. Alex could remember her voice, but that was all she could really remember of the woman. She had been in so much pain she couldn’t focus on anything else, but she has a voice and she has a name. 

_ I am going to thank her.  _ She thinks as she finally feels a rush of sleep fall on her that morning. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

Piper Chapman was new to this whole motocross medic thing. She really wanted to work for a bigger hospital or something better paying, but this was the only application she heard back from. What Piper didn't realize was how much fun it was to watch motocross and help those that got injured. 

At first Piper thought it would be a lot of broken bones or bloody cuts, but she did actually get to witness some pretty cool injuries. Her first injury of the day was a simple broken nose and that even gave her a small rush of adrenaline in helping that rider. What she couldn’t shake was the one rider who she think broke her femur. There was no noticeable signs of a fracture but the amount of pain that presided made her think something else was going on. 

That was the hard part of this job that she had already noticed, she didn't get to see the patients through until the end like most doctors. 

Anyway, the races were over for this weekend until the following weekend when it would happen all over again. During the week she subbed in as a school nurse in the local district, which was nice to see and get to know all the different kids, but it was the same thing every day: upset stomach, headaches, fevers, the list could really go on and on. 

Piper found herself this week wanting to get back out on the field where she could help the riders. She wanted to be able to stitch people up or set broken bones, not give out Advil to kids who had a letter from their mom saying it was okay. So when the weekend finally came, Piper was more than ready to get back out there. 

The track was already buzzing with engines and the chatter of people when Piper showed up for her shift. Coffee in hand, Piper entered the blue medical tent and found an empty cubby to put her bag and stuff in before officially starting. 

“Chapman,” A gruff voice said to the side of her. She looked up and found the source of the voice. It was Joe Caputo, one of the guys that has been working at the track for a long time and seen a lot of injuries and deaths. “There’s a rider here to see you, she’s outside the tent.”

The blonde finished getting her stuff ready, heading outside of the tent to meet the rider that was looking for her. When she stepped outside at first she saw a woman with her back towards her, on crutches and her leg in almost a full cast. “Excuse me, were you looking for me?” She tapped the woman’s shoulder as she said this and the woman turned around. 

To say Piper was breathless was an understatement. The woman in front of her was absolutely gorgeous. She had dark brown hair that fell around her shoulders, a strong figure, and the black framed glasses she had on covered the most beautiful green eyes she had seen. 

“Chapman?” The woman had a voice that was lower and a little husky, making Piper’s head spin even more. 

“Yeah- yeah that’s me.” Piper stuck out her hand awkwardly until she realized the woman was holding herself up with her crutches. “Oh, yeah, sorry.” Piper felt heat rise to her cheeks, but luckily it was a hot day so it was explained. 

“It’s okay.” The woman laughed lightly at her attempt to cover up her awkwardness. “I just wanted to come and say thank you.” Piper must have had a look of confusion on her face because the woman proceeded to say, “For helping me last weekend at the races.” The brunette gestured towards her leg to help explain the situation all the more. 

“Oh yeah! How is it?” Piper tried to shake off her embarrassment, but made a bigger fool out of herself she felt like. 

“Well, its broken, but I don’t need surgery or anything.” The brunette laughed at Piper’s expressions again, but this time stuck her hand out for Piper to shake. “I’m Alex.” 

“I’m Piper.” She stuck her hand out to shake the brunette’s but was anxious that her hands were sweaty. “I’m glad it’s not as bad as it could’ve been.” 

“Me, too.” Alex laughed softly at the blonde and her reactions. “I’m going to watch some racing but maybe I can buy you some food after your shift?” Alex wanted to show her appreciation for the woman who helped her. 

“I’m done after the races, so I’m done at seven, if that works?” The blonde looked up into Alex’s green eyes as she fidgeted with the pocket of her uniform. 

“Sounds good to me.” Alex smiled down at Piper with warm eyes.

“Okay.” Piper smiled at Alex but looked at the ground as she said this, slowly heading back to the tent. 

The afternoon went by fast for Piper as she helped riders from all races, but the day went by slowly for Alex as she watched the races that she should've been in. The brunette felt her frustration growing as she watched the races, knowing she could've taken a place in the top. 

Ever since Alex was in high school she started riding motocross. Nicky had boughten her a used dirt bike that they fixed up together as a project. But once Alex got on the bike, she never got off. She rode trails they found around the cities near her apartment, she did back alley racing for money to help pay rent. That is when Alex Vause knew she could make money from racing. So, she got a bigger and stronger bike, kept riding trails and eventually she saved enough money to go practice on a couple of motocross tracks early on Saturdays and Sundays. Eventually, somebody noticed her and she got a sponsor for racing parts, and then it just built up from there. 

Alex didn’t make a lot of money racing yet, but she still had sponsors and was working her way into a professional loop. So, when she got this injury last week, it hurt her chances of getting noticed because there were only a few weekends left for her to qualify for nationals. 

Alex was standing next to the results trailer where all of the results and next races for the following day were being posted when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see Piper standing there with a bag over her shoulder, smiling up at her. 

“You still up for grabbing some food?” Piper’s voice was soft and calm, one of the reasons Alex didn’t freak out when she got hurt.

“Sure, but can we find a place to sit and eat?” Alex kind of laughed at herself as she said this to Piper.

“Of course!” Piper turned around to walk beside Alex before speaking. “So, what is good to eat at these things?” 

“I usually don’t eat what’s made here, but I am sure there’s something good to eat.” Alex said as she crutched along next to Piper. 

“What do you mean you don’t eat here? You race, right?” Piper felt confused as she tried to understand what the brunette meant.

“Well, riders usually have campers or trailers they bring to stay in. So, usually I bring my own food along.” Alex smiles as she says this. “Nicky, my friend, she eats all sorts of the shit they sell here.” 

Piper laughed at Alex said this, intrigued more by the woman she helped, wanting to know more and more. 

Eventually, the two women stop in front of a basic food truck with all of the normal fixings; hotdogs, hamburgers, chips, all of that kind of stuff. Piper orders her food, turning to Alex and waiting for her to order. The blonde quickly gives the teller cash before Alex can buy the food for her, making Alex frown slightly. 

“Hey I was supposed to pay for that.” Alex said as they waited for their food by the side of the truck. 

“Maybe you can pay next time?” Piper said as she looked in her bag for her phone, trying to cover up what she was hinting at. 

“Next time? You seem optimistic.” Alex smiled as she said this, trying to hide the joy in her voice at the thought of seeing the blonde again. “That sounds like a date.”

“Okay, then. A date it is.”

  
  



End file.
